Georgia runoffs: Trump urges Republicans to ignore boycotts and vote for Loeffler and Perdue

Despite falsely claiming the 2020 general election in Georgia was rigged against him, Donald Trump is urging Republicans in the state not to boycott the 5 January runoff election that will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the US Senate.

Republican campaign strategists have grown concerned in recent days that the president’s baseless rhetoric casting doubt on the integrity of the Peach State’s electoral processes could suppress turnout among the conservative voters for Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. One of the two GOP incumbents must win their runoff race for the party to retain control of the Senate.

“No, the 2020 Election was a total scam, we won by a lot (and will hopefully turn over the fraudulent result), but we must get out and help David and Kelly, two GREAT people. Otherwise we are playing right into the hands of some very sick people. I will be in Georgia on Saturday!” Mr Trump tweeted on Friday as reports circulated about grassroots organisers in MAGA World orchestrating a mass boycott of the Senate runoffs.

If Republicans can hang onto their Senate majority, that will go a long way in slowing down President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. The Senate GOP could slow-walk his judicial nominees and Cabinet appointments, prevent congressional Democrats from rewriting the US tax code, and put a stop to several other big-ticket legislative items.

Following his election defeat to Mr Biden, Mr Trump has repeatedly accused election officials of presiding over systemic fraud in Georgia, a state he won in 2016 but narrowly lost this year.

The people Mr Trump has assailed for running a fraudulent election — a claim for which the president’s legal team has provided no compelling evidence — are members of his own party.

Mr Perdue and Ms Loeffler have joined the outgoing president in calling for GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to resign over “failures” to run a proper election. The senators’ letter on the matter did not offer any specifics on what they meant by “failures” within the state’s electoral system.

Mr Perdue is running head-to-head against former journalist Jon Ossoff. Ms Loeffler faces pastor Raphael Warnock.

The senators were both forced into runoff elections after failing to garner a 50 per cent share of the general election vote, a state-specific requirement.

The president’s baseless claims about voter fraud in Georgia have triggered a number of the his most ardent supporters to suggest writing in Mr Trump rather than voting for the two incumbent Republican senators.

Earlier this week, the hashtag #WriteInTrumpForGA was one of Twitter’s top trending topics, with some supporters incorrectly claiming that writing in Mr Trump could help change the results of the presidential election in the incumbent’s favour.

Some of Mr Trump’s most hardcore supporters appear to believe that the two Georgia senators have not done enough to support the president’s fraud claims. Some have even baselessly suggested that Ms Loeffler was complicit in electoral fraud herself.

Sidney Powell, a lawyer who has been distanced from the Trump campaign, has alleged without providing evidence that Ms Loeffler had conspired with a voting technology company to suppress votes for her Republican challenger Doug Collins in the special election on 3 November.

A prominent Georgia lawyer, Lin Wood, last week called on Ms Loeffler and Mr Perdue to get “out of their basements” to support the president’s demands for “action” to address his loss in Georgia.

“Threaten to withhold your votes & money. Demand that they represent you,” Mr Wood tweeted.

A recount earlier this month confirmed the initial result: Mr Biden beat Mr Trump by thousands of votes.

Mr Trump will visit the state next Saturday, 5 December, for a rally with the senators just one day before Ms Loeffler takes the stage for a debate against Mr Warnock.

Ms Perdue has refused to debate Mr Ossoff again before the 5 January runoff.